ROLE 5: Assist Elected Officials or Citizens

External Reporting, Capacity Building, or Advocacy for the use of Performance Information

The auditor assesses citizen participation related to developing public goals, objectives, or performance measures, or in reporting and using performance information. Auditors may also advise or assist in improving such processes. Such assessment may include, for example, the representativeness or inclusiveness of participation processes, the autonomy of such processes from control by the government, or the effectiveness of such processes in influencing the government in determining goals, objectives, performance measures, targets, in making other decisions, or in improving services.

This is included as a potential “future practice” related to performance measurement. However, examples have been identified of auditors assessing citizen engagement in other matters, which are included here as potential “precursors” of this practice.

In Kansas City, Missouri, a possible precursor to the use of this practice is the City Auditor's annual “Governance Assessments” of City Boards and Commissions. For this practice, the City Auditor’s Office uses a series of questions and a checklist, the results of which are published in annual reports. … Read more

A more extensive possible precursor to this practice is the Portland Metro Auditor’s 1997 Audit of the Urban Growth Boundary planning process of the Metro Portland regional government. In conducting this audit, the Metro Auditor's Office established three standards for planning processes that involve uncertain forecasts of future conditions, and where stakeholders have varying interests and different ideas of what the forecasts should be. … Read Example from 2004 Guide (PDF)